Sunday, 17 Feb 2019 - sermon: 'Bread of heaven'

Today, we chewed on chunky chapter six of John's gospel [gold star for our heroic reader, Heather, who did an excellent job]. Breaking the chapter down into 3 sections, we reflected on the feeding of the 5 000, grumbling from followers and Jesus calling himself the 'bread of life', and
some disciples finding his teaching too hard - and walking away.
Several key questions:
What were those in the crowd hungering for?
Or, the followers who eventually turned away?
What do we hunger for?

A couple of shorter reflections before the sermon:
a/ brought up practical sharing in the form of our relatively new initiative -
supporting the work of Clydesdale Food Bank - this also involved a rather large jar of chocolate...
b/ imagined the reaction from someone who might have been present at the 'big picnic'

READINGS: John 6:1-15; John 6:26-51; John 6:52-71

SERMON
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of all our hearts,
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

What was it that they hungered for?
They were famished.
Ravenous.
Feeling hollow inside.
Seeking nourishment –
something to chew on:
bread from the soil to settle their rumbling bellies,
and, the bread of heaven to satisfy their souls.
They had heard he was in the area, and so keen were they to see him,
that they travelled for miles about the countryside to find him;
each one with their own reason –
curiosity,
entertainment...
a chance to gawp at this up and coming ‘celebrity’.
Some, perhaps, were just tagging along with pals because they had a large case of ‘FOMO’ –
...Fear Of  Missing Out.
Others had more compelling, more immediate reasons:
having heard stories of signs and wonders perhaps they were hoping for a miracle
in their own life, or the life of a loved one wasting away before their eyes.
There were those drawn for political reasons:
had the time come at last for a deliverer to drive the Romans out –
would Israel be liberated from the occupiers efficiently stripping away the assets
of the land and the resources of its people...
indeed, occasionally enslaving the people?
Empire has always had two sides to its story but often,
only the victors get to tell of greatness and glory.

What was it that they hungered for –
who was it that they were seeking?
A humble rabbi?
A healer of hurts?
A teller of stories?
A heroic deliverer?
For a multitude of reasons each one sought Jesus out,
until, one by one, they became a multitude
which, having found him,
hoped that their hunger,
their need,
would be filled.
We discover, as we listen to the story of Jesus and the 5 000 men –
women and children didn’t count as witnesses in law, 
so their presence went unrecorded for the most part –
we discover that, whatever spiritual, psychological, or political hunger
may have been present among those in the crowd,
at some point, they reach the point of actual physical hunger.
‘Feed them’ says Jesus,
which makes the disciples just a teeny bit twitchy.
And then, Andrew, who had previously brought his brother Simon – later called Peter – to Jesus,
brings a boy to him who is willing to share his lunch.
Andrew, though he’s not sure how it could be done, sees a possibility.
Andrews looks at what they have, not what they lack.
Meanwhile, the boy with a lunch of bread and fish
is happy to let it go, and see what happens.
And both Andrew and the boy,
in the act of seeing possibilities,
in the act of letting go, and sharing...
see the seeming impossible happen:
the crowd is fed –
with more than enough leftovers beside.

The story moves on.
Jesus travels to the other side of the lake.
The crowd, physical hunger satisfied, still hunger for something else –
they follow, and meet him once more.
We move to Jesus teaching in the synagogue -
those listening, very likely contain a number who'd walked out to see him...
The conversation moves:
from bread made from grain to Jesus talking of the bread of heaven –
the bread of life,
the bread that never perishes.
They remember the great story of their ancestors,
who made their long walk to freedom from slavery in Egypt
by spending 40 years in the wilderness.
They remember signs and wonders,
and wonder what sign Jesus will do for them –
for surely he’s a modern-day Moses.
Will there be manna?
‘What miraculous signs will you do, so that we might believe in you?’
A strange question,
having just been fed in the wilderness –
having just been benefactors
of a miraculous sign
that they don’t seem to see.

With the matter of manna raised, Jesus talks of the bread of heaven.
‘It’s what we want – give us this bread!’
And Jesus says:
‘I... am the bread of heaven.’
And the crowd mutters and some say:
‘No you’re not: you’re Jesus, son of Joseph’
and don’t seem to see God in flesh and bone among them.
The crowd gets restive:
oh, they’re still hungry for answers to the meaning of life, or miracles –
they just don’t want the ones presented to them.
They’re stuck.
They can’t let go of their particular ideas about what the Messiah might be like,
or of what the journey of faith might involve.
They can’t see the possibilities presented to them –
can’t move beyond having just eaten a meal of bread and fish,
to explore their deeper hunger for the bread that doesn’t perish.
They grumble.
When Jesus doesn’t conform to their expectations they simply walk away.
Having received the gift of bread, they lose sight of the giver of the gift entirely.

What was it that they hungered for?
Were they looking on the surface –
looking for physical, material, even political needs to be met...
looking for easy solutions to deep-rooted problems?
This teaching of Jesus is ‘too hard’, they say,
as they set off looking,
as they head away having found the spiritual bread unpalatable...
Their hunger will never be met until they can open their hearts and souls and minds
to possibilities;
until they can let go of their preconceptions... 

Last week we heard the parable of the friend
who goes knocking on his neighbour’s door at midnight, asking for, seeking...bread.
He keeps knocking until that neighbour gets up,
gets the bread,
gives it to him,
and sends him on his way.
Jesus says:
‘Ask, seek, knock – the door will be opened.’
The crowd in our story today
were asking,
were seeking,
were knocking...
But, when the door opened they didn’t want that kind of bread –
didn’t like the answer they’d been given.
Jesus, the very bread of life,
offers them the bread that will satisfy their hunger forever
and they close the door on that possibility.

What is it that you hunger for?
Success, fame, wealth?
Maybe peace,
or, perhaps the strength just to get up out of bed to go and face the day?
Do you hunger for things that will scratch an itch here and now...
or something that will last a lot longer?
Or maybe the answer’s a bit of both.
There’s the very real tension of having to live with the needs of now –
so much to juggle,
so many demands.
And yet, as people of faith,
there’s the need to balance those demands
so that you can get to grips with the deeper stuff of life:
to make time for soul food, if you like –
to make time to open your eyes to the miracles all around you;
and make time to be open-minded to the possibilities that might just be within reach,
...to make time to be open-hearted with the blessings you’ve been given
and in doing so, become a part of God’s blessing to others.

Like some in the crowd,
like some of the disciples struggling with Jesus’ teaching,
do you find yourselves sometimes stuck –
only seeing what you don’t have,
not the variation on loaves and fish that you do have?
Or, seeing the limited resources you have,
do you fear to open your hands and share the blessing with others?
By declaring that he is the bread of life,
Jesus is trying to help his listeners,
his followers,
to become unstuck –
to become open;
to see the possibilities of life with God at the centre –
to dare to experience life in all its fullness;
to dare to trust in God’s limitless resources
so that we need not fear lack –
but rather,
to know our God will supply our needs.

What is it that you hunger for?
And, are you prepared to let go,
and let God show you the answer?
Jesus challenges the disciples to see possibilities,
to think differently,
to explore other ways of living in faith,
to take a risk.
Sure, it could have all gone wrong:
they could have ended up looking like idiots when nothing happened,
or when the small morsels given all ran out a couple of people down the line.
Bit by bit, they let go:
of the fear of looking silly,
or of losing their reputations;
even, possibly, of the fear of having to deal with a hungry mob.
Instead, perhaps taking a deep breath as they did so,
they responded to a basic need,
looked around,
shared what they found,
and in the sharing found not only more than enough to eat,
but discovered not only God’s abundance,
but God in their midst meeting their deeper needs.

Martin Luther, the great church reformer, observed that
‘We are all beggars showing other beggars where to find bread.’
That bread is Jesus.
What is it that you hunger for?
As you think on the answer to that,
may you find your needs met this day, and every day,
by the One who is the bread of life,
and may you share that ever-living bread with others. Amen.

Church news - a slew of announcements this morning in worship. 
These will be posted tomorrow on the blog